The St. Louis Press Brick Company, operated by the Niedringhaus family of Granite City, filed its articles of incorporation on September 1, 1891, with its principal office in Glen Carbon. By December 18, 1894, it was regarded as the largest brick plant in Madison County, equipped to manufacture house, ornamental, and paving brick, and it earned a reputation for producing exceptionally fine brick. In 1902, bricks from the Glen Carbon brickyard were shipped for the foundation of the Palace of Fine Art, the only building constructed as a permanent structure for the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis and now known as the St. Louis Art Museum. The company was a large operation that at one time had twelve baking kilns in use, with steam-powered equipment running the fans, presses, and other machinery needed for brickmaking. Water for the boilers and for mixing clay came from a pond northeast of the plant across Glen Crossing Road, moved by gravity through pipes into the valley and a holding basin, where steam-powered pumps sent it to operating areas. Many years later, village youth used the pond as a swimming and fishing hole. A devastating fire in 1906 ended the business, and many brickyard employees were forced to seek work in the village coal mines.